3 Types of Recruiting to Build Your Business

Hiring is hard, but it doesn’t have to be. By defining your hiring strategy and really focusing on what type of recruiting works best for you, you can build a team that will allow your business to grow and scale.

There are three main types of recruiting that companies use:

• Hunting
• Farming
• Fishing

Each of these serve a purpose in building a high-quality, productive team. Understanding the benefits and downfalls of each will allow you to choose the best strategy when it’s time to hire.

Hunting

One of the most common types of recruiting, often used by large companies, is hunting. You might be more familiar with this type of recruiting being labeled as using a headhunter or recruiters. 

When hunting to recruit, you have a very specific agenda to get one person to join your team for a particular job. Instead of waiting for them to come to you, you decide who you want to hire and go hunting for them. You must be crystal clear on what the candidate needs to look like as far as skills and experience.

Hunting to build your team requires precision planning, dedication, and an ongoing investment. The average cost of a recruiter is 20-25% of the employee’s first year of salary. It’s one of the most costly types of recruiting and can be for nothing when your new hire gets poached by someone with a better offer or doesn’t work out. Because you’re hiring for a specific position, the hunt goes on and on.

For companies with frontline employees, this is unsustainable. Hunting should be reserved for filling your executive or specialist positions. For the vast majority of your workforce, it’s too time consuming and expensive.

Farming

When hunting isn’t feasible, many companies turn to farming. This is when you take a group of people that know nothing about the work you do and you train them from the ground up. You may be more familiar with this type of recruiting being called an apprenticeship or training program.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 349,000 workers completed an apprenticeship program within the last five years. These programs provide people with limited experience an opportunity to get hands-on training and experience while being mentored. This is a solid path toward a rewarding career.

Farming to build your team requires long term thinking and an ongoing investment. This type of recruiting provides a pathway to grow with your company – a perk many people desire. 

Apprenticeship programs require a dedicated trainer which takes time away from their otherwise productive work. This strategy works well when you already have a good team in place and don’t need to urgently fill positions.

Unfortunately, the results of farming to build your team can take years. That’s time that most companies don’t have.

“We discovered there’s a third way, a better way. We call it fishing. We think of recruiting like fishing.”

-Ryan Englin, CEO of Core Matters, Host of the Titans of the Traades podcast, and Bestselling Author of Hire Better People Faster

Fishing

If you’re looking for a recruiting strategy that’s less time consuming, with better results, look no further than fishing. The principles you use to catch a fish are the same you use in recruiting to “catch” a high-quality candidate. 

Find a good spot. 

Cast your line. 

Catch some fish. 

It’s simple.

By going where the best candidates are, putting out the right bait, and letting them nibble at the hook, you begin to attract the right people. They come to you eager to do the job because they want to work with you.

Fishing is a low risk strategy. It doesn’t require a recruiting department or expensive outsourcing. You simply position your company as the place to work and watch the candidates flood in.

If you’re looking for a one time investment in tools and a guide to train you, fishing is the type of recruiting you need. Once you understand the process, fishing is a fast, inexpensive way to get results. And best of all, it’ll work every time you need to hire someone with no additional investment.

Which Type of Recruiting Is Best for You?

Each of the three recruiting strategies are useful and you should utilize all of them in your company. But if you’re wanting high-quality people whenever you need them, without investing more time and money, there’s a clear front runner.

Fishing.

Imagine if candidates were reaching out to you, asking for a job. Imagine if your current team served as your marketing department by telling their friends and family what a fantastic place to work your company is. By crafting a strong brand reputation, you’ll attract the right people to your job openings, allowing you to grow and scale your business. 

Learn more about how to bring hiring in-house, saving you time and money, in my bestselling book, Hire Better People Faster.